Hi, my name is Kristin. I am a mom to 2 beautiful children, Morgan (4) and Reed (9 months). I am currently working full time, going to school, taking care of both of my kiddos, and I do a majority of the housework and cooking for the family. When I say majority, I would say I do about 85-90% of everything except for the "outside" work (clearing the driveway, mowing the lawn, etc.). I don't mind doing it all because my husband works so many hours plus does side jobs here and there, but it can get overwhelming and I feel like there's no time left at the end of the day.
Long story short, I've been overweight my entire life. In college, I had finally started losing weight and actually dropped about 30 lbs in my first year of school. Then I met my husband, moved to a new town and ended up putting on about 15 lbs because I was such a homebody because I knew very few people. Maintained my weight at about 215 or so till I got pregnant with my daughter and lost a majority of the weight I gained while pregnant right away. By the time she turned 1, the weight had started to creep on... I was working full time and taking care of her and it was just a really stressful time. Instead of dealing with stress, I would turn to food... A couple years later, I had gotten up to 250 lbs because of my stress eating. Then my grandpa passed away and I gained another 15 lbs. I found out a few months later I was pregnant with my son and I put on a lot of weight during that pregnancy. Lost some of it, but with A LOT of stressful events that went on right after he was born, I put on another 15 lbs... I currently am sitting at about 295 lbs... I am not proud of that. I am honestly disgusted with the way that my body looks...
I NEED help. I don't even know where to start. I know when it comes to the diet we are eating at home, it's my fault because I do the cooking. But, by the end of the day, I just want to do a quick easy meal that I know that everyone will eat... I don't want a battle by that time of day. I get up at 4:30am, get ready for work, get my kids ready for daycare, drop them off at daycare, work 8 hours straight through so I can pick my kids up by 3, go home, do a few chores, make supper, start getting kids ready for baths, put kids to bed, by that time it's 8pm. I need to get homework done. Finally it's to bed by 10pm if I'm lucky. And even then it's not guaranteed I'm gonna get a good night's sleep because some nights/weeks my son doesn't sleep worth a darn still. Then it's hit the rewind button and start all over...
I don't even know where to start???? My goal weight is to get down to at least 190/200 lbs just because of my build. I'm 5'11" but I have a very muscular/athletic build when I'm not in the shape I am right now. Any tips to help save time with supper, or how to even try to fit anything else into my hectic life is HUGELY appreciated... I know this was a novel and I'm grateful to whoever made it through it to this far... I'm just so overwhelmed I don't even know where to start....

Start with small steps. Trust me, they add up quickly. I don't know your situation, but I would start with

1. taking some time for yourself! This really won't work if you are not taking care of yourself mentally, as well as physically. But the mental part is the most important. Right now you feel overwhelmed, but this process doesn't have to be another stressor. Know that this can and has been done before and you're not in this alone!

2. drinking more water, shoot for 150 oz. a day (that's about 5 liters)--half your weight. That will help curb some of the cravings, hunger pangs and get your body burning calories. You'd be surprised how much you can lose just by drinking more water! I would recommend mastering this before the others, but whatever works for you.

3. eating mindfully. Not sure what your habits are not, but if you're like the rest of us busy folk, you eat quickly and whatever is on your plate. Slow down your eating and try to recognize what it feels like for you to be full vs. hungry. You have to remind yourself to recognize the difference and respond accordingly. Paul McKenna's book is good for this, but not for everyone. Under his plan, you can eat whatever you want but you have to put in the work to recognize when you're full and stop eating when that's the case.

I'm sure there are some good intuitive eating books out there. But the basics are eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full. Even if you feel full and you realize you're hungry again ten minutes later, that's ok. Eat again. But stop when you feel full. This will not only reprogram your mind to respond to your body's desire for food, but will allow your stomach to start shrinking (and stop expanding!) so you'll naturally desire smaller portions. Too often we just eat because we think that's what we're supposed to do. Also, in line with this, you'll probably eat more often and that's a good thing. Large spaced-out meals are not good for you. Better to have frequent small meals--roughly every 3-4 hours.

4. Switching out processed/fatty/high sugar foods for high fiber options--basically more veggies, fruits, whole grain carbs. This is a long process and may take time for your family to get used to, but you can slowly start replacing things in your meals.

If you're feeling overwhelmed and you're really busy, I would NOT start with calorie counting or a grueling exercise regimen. It can really become another stressor, especially since it seems like you don't have a lot of time. I would start with changing habits and then move to calorie counting or an exercise regimen. Once you're eating healthier, you'll naturally have more energy and want to move more.

But again, I don't know your specific situation so this is all advice I would give myself. Good luck!!

Hi Kristin

You know, I just THOUGHT I was busy, until I read about your schedule. Especially the 4:30 am wake up!

Getting healthy foods into your meals doesn't have to be terribly difficult. If you have time on the weekends, you can bake a few chicken breasts or fish fillets and freeze them in either family sized, or individual portions. Take a few out in the morning and let them thaw in the refrigerator during the day and they can then be warmed up in the microwave or oven quickly at meal time. You can also steam vegetables super fast in the microwave. When I do this, I usually slice a few pieces of fruit and put them on a plate for everyone and grab a few handfuls of pre-mixed salad (field greens, spinach, leafy lettuce) and toss them in a bowl. It's an easy way to have a quick and healthy meal.

Or, another thought is to put dinner in a crockpot or slow cooker in the morning and let it cook all day while you are at work.

The thing that worked for me was weight watchers. I lost 11kg and I think it was because I wasn't deprived of anything. Nearly 5 years later, another baby and I'm back on WW myself to lose 8 or more kg. Weight Watchers may not be your thing, everyone is different and you need to find what will work for you. I found that making a definate start date, clearing the junk food out of the cupboard before my start date, keeping a daily food diary of my food and buying in healthy food and low fat snacks, has kept me from temptation this time. I had a lot of bad starts before this and kept putting it off, making excuses and eating fast food because it was quick and there was nothing else in the house. I now plan meals, and my family has some version of my healthy meal, that way I don't cook two separate meals. I wish you the best of luck, and if you haven't already started a diet blog, it's a really good way to keep motivated.

As a single mom in her 40's I suggest Ideal Protein. I've been on just about every diet out there but this one has been the easiest (I'm not a cook), fastest, most rewarding (you see actual weight loss every week, 3-5 lbs for women), and scientifically sound (I've done my homework).

Make friends with a crock pot!! Today is my day to make the menu for the week (oh! I wonder if the sales paper is here yet!), and many of my days are crock pot or fast meals, and I eat South Beach (which is high fiber, veggies, lean protein, lower grains).

My recommendations would be
** buy "the beck solution" if you can get it, and have time to read it.
** you need to have some kind of guideline and support. I LOVE South Beach, but it may not be the way to go for you. The forums on here are amazing, and a wonderful support. I check in almost daily.
** make a couple little changes until you decide how you want to do it, and clean out your house of the bad food. Like the other poster said, lots of water. How 'bout drop soda? Or some other worthless calorie food? (I used to have a couple tablespoons of that flavored creamer with each cup of coffee....)

BTW - I have a 7 and 8 year old, I started south beach almost 4 years ago. It has made a tremendous positive influence on my kid's life. They are so much more willing to eat veggies and be more adventurous with foods then most kids.

GOOD LUCK!!

Thanks you all that responded... I think I've finally just hit a breaking point where enough is enough. Nothing even tastes right anymore. Foods I used to "enjoy" as comfort foods are great for a bite or two, but then it's... I dunno, it's weird. I'm grateful to think I may at least now have a place that I can come to to vent, find support, or bound ideas off of everyone. I can talk to people about it, but a lot of my friends aren't overweight so have no idea and I can talk to my husband about it but he is well, a guy. No offense to any of the guys on here at all, please don't take it that way. He's just one of those that doesn't "get it". He always tells me, oh you look fine hun, don't worry about it.
Do you guys have any suggestions for a good cook book for crockpot meals? I would love to use it, but in the past they were always slathered with "cream" soups, and that's one thing I need to cut.
I'm gonna try to start getting in a few workouts here and there. My mom made a copy of a few of her workout DVDs so I may try those after work some days. Maybe my daughter will be entertained enough to want to jump in too. That would help a ton to not have her pulling me away every 5 minutes. And definitely drinking more water... I've been slacking in that dept lately...
Thanks again everyone! I hope everyone can start to meet any and every goal they have set for themselves!

Welcome and good luck. Find a plan that you will follow, there are plenty to choose from. I , personally calorie count, it works best for me, is not expensive, is easy to follow and the entire family can eat the same food. If that doesn't work for you, stat by eliminating fast foods, processed foods , deserts and junk foods. On your day off make a big pot of ,Navy Bean Soup or Split Pea or some other soup, it doesn't take much time to make once you get the ingredients in the pot and a good size batch will last a couple of days.I make a big batch and freeze portions of it in individual portions. You can get some Rubbermaid containers cheap. Most of all just start, experiment until you find what works best for you. Good luck !

If you go to the south beach section on here, then the recipes section, I believe there's a crock pot section (also, casseroles too!). Careful of some of the crock pot recipe books or websites, some of them are VERY calorie laden!!

I'm right there with you! Very similar situation, I just graduated college last May and work full time, 10+ hours a day 4 days a week, and starting new here. I was/am just disgusted with myself and depressed. My first two weeks have been really rough, between bronchitis and depression (I am very much an emotional eater) but every day is a new day, and a new chance to succeed. One member posted to me on my "Introduction" feed..."You deserve to be a success story, too"...And that hit home.
YOU deserve to be a success story. And your babies deserve to have a mom that loves herself as much as they love her =]
Good luck!

Also, don't rule out the soups. You can just make them healthier by adding more veggies and lean protein.